The One Luna

A figure walked out from the pathway. He had devilishly good looks and was aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, much like the Elves were. The biggest difference was the malevolence in his eyes and the suffocatingly evil aura surrounding him.

"Engkanto?" Luna raised an eyebrow. Of all the types of people he hated to fight for the first time the most, it was definitely spellcasters. You never knew what techniques they had up their sleeves. If it ended up being something that completely countered you, you'd be in a lot of trouble. That was the beauty of mastering Anitos.

The Filipino soldiers were taken aback. "Engkanto? No way..." All of them had been told stories about Engkantos growing up. It was mostly to scare little kids into behaving but to actually see one in the flesh. With the psychological effect of those stories growing up, and the malevolent aura surrounding him, it would be a lie if one were to say that these soldiers weren't at least a tiny bit scared.

Luna quickly sent a message to the two squads on their flanks, "You guys fall back. Support us when you see an opening, but for the most part, stay back and keep a close watch on your surroundings."

Hearing this, they slowly inched back. If Luna said that someone was dangerous, they definitely wouldn't play around with their lives. They also paid attention to the latter half of his message as well. Engkantos were known to have many tricks up their sleeves to use on humans.

The Engkanto finally stopped in the middle of the open space. "Well? Are you going to beg for forgiveness? Or do I need to force you to go down on your knees?" He gazed at everyone in front of him, and his expression changed a bit. "My, my, you have quite the variety here," he said, as his gaze stopped in front of Elder Aran, "You seem familiar, but I doubt I'd know anybody so... unfabulous."

His eyes landed on Sura. This man had a lascivious gaze, but to everybody's shock, that gaze didn't show when his eyes landed on Sura. It showed when it landed on Maxene.

L.i.c.k.i.n.g his lips, he said, "You! You have an interesting aura. If you become my wife, I'll let the others go."

"Stranger danger," Maxene said as she hid behind Sura.

"Cough! Pedophile! Cough!" Luna could only say one word to describe this man.

"What? No! She's technically older than everyone in this room combined!" The Engkanto defended himself.

"Says every lolicon ever," Luna replied.

"YOU WILL NOT BESMIRCH MY NAME!" The Engkanto roared.

"You didn't even tell us your name." Luna retorted.

"Oh.. My name is Juan." The Engkanto replied.

"Juan the Engkanto?"

"Si. I mean, yes."

"Was that...?"

"Spanish, yes. A man can get pretty bored after living for a few thousand years. Learning a few languages isn't a big deal. I just happened to finally be learning Spanish not too long ago." The Engkanto replied.

"Despite your name being Juan?"

"Well, I'm more of a Filipino Juan than a Spanish Juan. You get what I mean?"

"I see. But you're still not laying a single finger on my daughter." As he said that, Luna initiated the transformation into the Draconic armor's final form. Obviously readying himself for a fight. Just because the conversation he just had with this Engkanto was quite peculiar, doesn't mean he had let his guard down.

"The descendant of a True Dragon? No, it can't be."

Sura activated her 3-heads and 6-arms mode as well.

"Asura?" Juan

"Yes. One who is very protective of her daughter."

"For crying out loud, she's technically been alive for as long as the Earth is alive! She's the Daughter of the Earth! Every ancient creature of the Earth would know that aura!" Juan continued to defend himself. Alas, even he knew that someone like him, even though he only looked like he would be in his mid-twenties, would look really bad trying to say he wanted to have someone that looks like a little girl as his lover. What he really wanted was Maxene's essence. He wasn't considered a Tabula Rasa, so he had been stuck at the same level for an incredibly long time. "Forget it! I'll just kill all of you first."

Luna and Sura stepped forward while Elder Aran prepared to back them up. He summoned his Lightning elemental as well, someone he entered a contract with after reaching a certain mastery with the Anito of lightning before he dabbled in other elements. Luna and Sura weren't holding back, and he knew he shouldn't as well.

Seeing this, even Juan who was level 75 and initially very confident of his chances, felt fear. Something he hadn't felt for a very long time.

Nobody wanted to make the first move as they each side stared each other down. Luna actually readied both his Itak Tagalogs sheathed on his waist. He was prepared to utilize them should he need to. Especially if he needs to utilize their Gunblade mode.

The soldiers behind them were even more tense than before. As if any sudden movement could start this fight at any time.

*BOOM*

Luna disappeared from his current location. He appeared in front of Juan and slashed downwards, cutting him in half.

Instead of being happy, he became even more worried. True enough, the Juan that was cut in half, turned into wood.

"At the very least you're quite familiar with the Anito of Wood," Luna said.

"Hahaha! That was but a mere parlor trick." Juan's voice rang out. He was sweating pretty hard. If it wasn't for his huge level lead, he actually almost didn't make it in time.

Trees shaped like humans began sprouting from the ground and took Juan's form. It was impossible to differentiate which one was real and which one was fake. "Now it's time to get a little more serious," He said.

"K" Luna with just a simple 'K' as he brandished his weapon and slashed horizontally, cutting one of the wood clones in half.

"Hahaha! You're pretty c.o.c.ky for a weakling, aren't you? These clones cost next to nothing for me to make, but it takes you a full-force swing like that just to cut one down," Juan gloated.

"Not quite," Luna replied. As soon as he said that, flames ignited out of nowhere from the ground, setting the wood clones on fire.

Truth be told, despite his high level, Juan's mastery of wood was only Rank 3. Which is why he tried to bluff his way to getting Maxene. As he believed that devouring the Daughter of the Earth would help raise his innate strength. Despite his lascivious gaze earlier, he actually wasn't s.e.x.u.a.lly interested in Maxene, he was l.u.s.ting towards the prospect of gaining strength with little to no effort.

He didn't want to work for anything at all. If as an Engkanto, he wasn't a descendant of a lesser God, he wouldn't even have been as "strong" as he was right now. The only reason why he would equal a level 75 was that, as a descendant of such beings, he would reach the equivalent of a level 75 upon maturity. The same with his mastery on the Anito of wood. If he expended just a little bit more effort, he would be at least the equivalent of a Demi-God, and he'd be able to dispatch of Luna's group with ease. Alas.

That's why he also had another name: Juan Tamad.*

"Damn it! Fire! Why did it have to be fire! Wood elemental, go!" Backing off to the other end of the room, he sent his Elemental to fight for him as he summoned more trees to surround himself.

"I need to rest, so I can recover," he told himself. He barely used any of his energy, but he just wanted to be lazy even in the middle of such a fight.

This lazy Engkanto actually wanted to surround himself in trees just so he could postpone having to expend the effort to be in a fight. He sensed their low levels before, that's why he was so arrogant. He expected this to be an easy fight that he could deal with in seconds.